Linwu White Wax

Linwu White Wax

　　Linwu County’s Nanqiang Township is the main production area of Linwu White Wax. The primary producing villages include Erba, followed by Wenxi, Tongyouping, Tiantou, Xiushui, Jiujangtou, Zhatang, Matang, Xiangtang, as well as Tansha Village in Tongyi Township. The cultivation of wax trees (privet trees) and the breeding of wax insects in Linwu began in the tenth year of the Jiajing reign during the Ming Dynasty (1531), with the county’s total wax production reaching 6,000 kilograms. In the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916), it won a gold medal at the Panama International Exposition; in the 21st year of the Republic of China (1932), it received a silver medal at the World’s Fair in Chicago, USA, for its superior quality, earning the reputation of “Wu Wax.”

　　Wu Wax and Sichuan White Wax are both insect waxes. They belong to the insect class, order Hemiptera, family Coccidae, and are oligophagous insects. Sichuan White Wax is renowned both domestically and internationally for its high yield, while “Linwu White Wax is exquisite, white as accumulated snow, bright as the moonlight, attracting merchants from distant regions who compete to buy it at premium prices.” (See the Tongzhi-era “Guidong Chronicles of Guiyang”). Even when Sichuan Wax and Wu Wax are displayed and sold together in stores, Wu Wax is always priced several percent higher than Sichuan Wax. Merchants even specially label the wax cakes with the words “Wu Wax” to distinguish them. Wu Wax is meticulously crafted, highly technical, and boasts superior product quality. It has a high melting point, strong stability, and offers functions such as anti-corrosion, anti-rust, moisture-proofing, lubrication, gloss enhancement, hemostasis, and tissue regeneration. It holds significant value in industry, agriculture, medicine, and other fields. It is a unique substance in China and also a traditional export product of our county.